Author: Keiran

Title: A Rose by any other Name, fourth fic in 'Realisations' arc.

Rating: PG-13 perhaps. In fact probably less, but I don't want to have angry parents following me.

Pairings: 1x2x1, 5xS

Warnings: Wufei pov, Valentine fic.

Archive: my site can be found on my profile page. Any else? Drop me a line.

This fic has been betaed by Sundaire. waves a Go Sundaire!' flag

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I personally think that most love stories are not only cliché, but also over-sweetened, unrealistic or just plain dumb. Take Tristan and Isolde for example: this is the stupidest tale I have ever heard. And people call it a great romance! Just because they managed to fool everybody, deceive the person they have sworn their allegiance and/or faithfulness to, and lied *and* slept together before and after one of the participant's marriage (and that's a huge trespass, considering the times they lived in.) Even if they did have a surprisingly good partnership – considering that they were of opposite sexes.

Romanticism is a myth. The so-called tales of great love, of knights and princesses or lords marrying orphans are nothing more than a child's illusion. This probably explains the existence of one Relena Peacecraft's infatuation. However, in defence of fairy tales, there is this case of soldiers and orphans…

When I first met Maxwell, I didn't think much of him. My world looked like a zebra, with black and white stripes all over it. That wasn't the only type of categorizing I used. Let's just say that in the other one, Maxwell was placed right above women. The only thing that prevented him from falling into that category was his gender (because I can name a few women piloting Mobiles). His hair annoyed me. I know that my own is not exactly short either, but I do not wear a braid! Now that I know the reason behind it, however, I know such long hair wouldn't be comfortable loose. Actually, I've always wondered how Zechs Marquise dealt with his. Or how much gel he used. But back to Maxwell. Almost against myself I started to talk to him, and I realized that apart from being loud, talkative and insufferable, he was also insightful and clever.

The day I got my hands on his IQ test results should be dutifully noted in history as the day that almost gave Chang Wufei a coronary. It was obscenely high, as you may guess. It made me realize I'm not as ingenious as I thought I was. I also realized (as subconscious as it was) that it takes more than just knowledge to be wise. It took almost no time at all to discover how adept he was at piloting; it took way longer to get me to discover how adept he was at *being*.

But, people grow, people learn, people change. I stopped perceiving others as inferior beings. Maxwell became my best friend, so I naturally started observing him more closely. Surprisingly, the process of noticing the person behind the cheer took a while. It took even more time to get us both comfortable enough to relate our childhoods to each other. However, once we finally did, you can guess I was left speechless. One thing I'd never suspect about Maxwell is that he had lived on the streets. Naturally, he is far from perfect manner-wise; he tends to swear a lot when he is agitated (I do it too, sometimes. But, he and I both can be quite gallant, if the occasion calls for it), but the sheer amount of knowledge he possesses, the things he's read, the conclusions he draws… It amazed me. Not that my own childhood was a piece of blueberry cake, mind you, but I never had to scrape for food or worry about *anything* save for my grades. Yes, there was a fair share of death in my life (I am Chinese. We *worship* the dead), take my own wife, for example. And all the people I knew for the first fifteen years of my life soon after.

In my case, there was the buffer of being discouraged from loving (although it didn't make it hurt any less). Maxwell, on the other hand, was encouraged to love. From what I've understood he'd been groomed to be a priest. Damn fine choice if you ask me.

The conclusions I drew from it were conflicting. From what I've been taught, he should have ended up as a quiet and withdrawn shell of a man, without the slightest lust for life. I was rather skeptic at first. As I drew that conclusion, I had been watching Maxwell bathe a Bernardino on Winner's lawn. They were both making a lot of noise, since the dog was quite young and lively and none of the present remained dry.

Now, when I've compared the bouncing, chattering, laughing, bright mass of energy to the slow, silent, dull and lifeless people I read about, I noticed a discrepancy. A huge discrepancy. Therefore, either the psychologists are not as wise as they give themselves credit for, or Duo is some kind of an exception.

Or an alien. Being around him too much has broadened my mind considerably. Quoting: 'Fei, there's a big chance that an alien community is observing us from afar. So, why don't you lose the scowl? You're making a bad impression.' Thankfully, he was doing the smiling for us both at the time. For the three of us if you count Yuy.

Now that we're on the subject, code name Heero Yuy, he and Maxwell are a couple now. They've been living together since the war, but their actual get-together happened a year later.

It was the most unromantic of all unromantic events a man could think of. Therefore, it isn't easy to see just why I classify their relationship as a romantic love story. It started on a normal, mildly sunny morning. I heard a door being closed with a little too much force. Then it opened again.

"Shows what you know, idiot. Rest assured that I will," Yuy said. Moments later Maxwell joined me by the Xerox machine, so naturally I asked him what that was about.

"Had a row with my brand new, self appointed boyfriend," he replied. I blinked.

"Pardon?"

"Well, he called me an irresponsible… brat, for a lack of a better word, for riding a motorcycle without a helmet on. So I told him he was not my mother, to which he returned he wished he was, just so he could ground me. I naturally told him that I wouldn't allow him to do that even if he was my boyfriend, and voila. Got myself a date," Duo smirked. I could tell he was… pleased with the situation.

"You seem elated," I observed.

"Nah. It's a good thing, true. So I suppose you could say I'm happy," he shrugged. I smirked halfheartedly. I had to admit that the idea bothered me a little. My culture, although it is bent on tradition, has borrowed a lot from the western countries, things that are now presented as its own. Such as disdainful views on homosexual relationships. Well… I won't try denying that I was curious about it, once or twice. So I did some research. I, naturally, received far more information than I'd ever need on the subject (some people really spend too much of their time on the web), but I also found very interesting *Chinese* cultural references. Contrary to what I have been taught, China had a long history of bisexuality and tolerance.

But before I get to my tolerance of the relationship, some background on Yuy would be in order. His past was far less complicated than Maxwell's. He was brought up to be a soldier, nothing special about that, apart from the fact that he managed to fall into the hands of a really obsessed bastard and ended up being given far more training than he would have wanted. That resulted in him being not just unsociable, but downright rude. The famous ripping of Relena's invitation in half is nothing compared to other stunts he is capable of pulling. He is also intense, although not in the same way as Maxwell. Yuy reminds me of a boiler. There is nothing on the surface, but one can *feel* that everything is boiling underneath. Maxwell is passionate all right, but with him the intensity is directed outside, while on the inside he stays relatively calm. Calling him a tornado sums it up quite well.

Yuy, as far as I know, has never really had someone close to him. He is like me in that aspect, except he had virtually no one to get close to. People need contact with another human, even if they have no idea how to go about it. I suppose that's how Yuy got so attached to Maxwell. He decided on a good strategy: if you have no idea what it's all about, pretend you do and get to know someone who's an expert.

It took me a while to draw a connection between Maxwell's past and present, but once I did, I realized that he befriended the people around him, but he only allowed someone close if they made him feel safe. That would explain him being with Yuy, I guess. He would shred the world to pieces if that meant keeping Maxwell safe. I suppose it really is a good thing, no matter the gender of their partner, that they found someone that makes them happy. Of course, it's not like anybody would know if they weren't. But I was supposed to talk about romance.

It would be natural to assume that a romance would blossom between Yuy and Relena Peacecraft. Or Maxwell and Hilde Schbeiker. Here, however, enters a factor known as psychological background. If it was Winner that Relena found on a beach, I'm certain it would have resulted in a love story. Not because they are both blondes... at least not entirely. It has more to do with their background – Quatre was raised to be the 'Prince Charming.' Yuy's chances of falling in love with a fragile princess, with all of his training, were slim to none. For him the world was quite simple. You either are an equal (regardless of the side you are on) or a liability (which could be understood as both a burden and a responsibility). Hazard a guess in which category Relena fell, with her social status, manners and frailty. That categorizing stayed with Yuy even after the war. I doubt he'd be able to form a relationship with a person he considered a liability.

Now Hilde is another matter. She is a soldier herself, so definitely not a liability. She is strong and she gets along with Maxwell well. Why they didn't become a couple I can only guess. Or could, to be more precise. I asked Maxwell about it, sometime ago.

"See, Fei," he answered, "I really like her. And truthfully I have no idea. But I don't think she'd be able to understand me like Heero does. I mean, she was a soldier all right, but she was more of a young recruit, so she doesn't really know what it was like to go out in a real battle. I know there are friends and there are lovers, but I don't think I'll be able to spend my life with a person who couldn't understand all of me, down to the reason why I find it fit to have a set of throwing knives taped to the underside of the bed and explosives behind the microwave. You think a girl could live with that? Plus, if you spend as much time as I have in the presence of someone who knows you so well that you don't even have to tell him to pass you salt when you're eating, you'll fall in love sooner or later. And it doesn't hurt at all that he's hot as hell. Although, I have to admit, I thought I was straight until him," he added as an afterthought. "Perhaps we all have some hidden gay tendencies."

I nearly choked at the lecherous smirk he gave me. "Maxwell! You had me drunk that time!"

He laughed merrily. I sighed. Life is never simple when Maxwell is around.

I asked Yuy the 'why didn't you get together with the girl' question a day later. His answer, however, was much less sophisticated: "What he said. Only the girl has less good sides." (To be quite honest, he added: 'I'd be grateful if you tried any future 'hidden gay tendencies' on someone else rather than my boyfriend.' And not just added, he *added*. Punctuating the statement by messing up my collar).

That more or less cleared the problem for me. The funny thing is, that when I told Sally all of it, her only comment was 'How cute they both are…' accompanied by a sigh. What is it with women and gay men? I personally can't see anything alluring in them. Other than two of them being my best friends, of course. However, after careful pondering on both their characters, I was finding the idea of them being an item more and more appealing. Not enough to try and crawl in-between, thank you very much, more like 'Thank God, neither of them is a woman, I fear to think what their children would be like.'

Where is the romance, you ask? Where are the candlelit dinners, the flowers and the serenades under a balcony? What's romantic in living together, cooking, cleaning and every other chore you can think of? Surely there is nothing to make one think of them as a perfect couple. Especially when said couple tends to beat the hell out of each other, and it's not entirely uncommon to see them walk in to work with a shiner or two. It is better to be in the next country when they are fighting.

I thought about relationships, long and hard. Women need all the romanticism. I fail to understand why. But I care for Sally very much, so I decided I would make her happy if it killed me. A little flowery speech wouldn't, or so I hoped. And since you need to know what you have to aim for, and I was raised to aim for nothing short of success, I kept close tabs on the pair. I wasn't really getting anywhere, until that day when I accidentally walked in on Maxwell and Yuy after a Preventers' raid. Maxwell killed a man during that mission.

He never really liked killing. Oh yes, there was a fair share of 'bite the ground, motherfucker' and 'none shall escape Shinigami's wrath' but… he hated killing. It just wasn't who he was, as a person. He wouldn't, of course ever show that he felt bad. Something was left in him from the life on the streets – 'never show your weakness, to a friend or foe.'

That one night I saw him cry. No hysteria, no tears, but he was crying quietly. Not that it would look like he was crying to anybody else. He was sitting in Yuy's lap, clutching at his shirt, whispering something I couldn't really make out. And Yuy was sitting calmly, just holding him tight enough to leave bruises. I left very quickly afterwards. I didn't want to disrupt their privacy.

I went back home where Sally was waiting for me. I saw her smile and suddenly I knew that I wanted her to know I hurt. I had never thought to say something like that to anybody. Not even my esteemed wife. Or perhaps especially her. I have grown up since then.

My first attempts at being romantic were disastrous. Finally, I gave up and left the matter entirely to the Maxwell-Yuy duo, who arranged a perfect candlelit dinner in our flat, which Maxwell cooked, got Yuy to serve, and then both cleaned up and disappeared, leaving the two of us in a perfect atmosphere and mood. *That* night was flawless. I even got over having to listen to the rules of Wu-romanticism. Take a guess at who made them up – you have three tries and the first two don't count.

It, namely mine and Sally's relationship, didn't exactly go smoothly. It took me months to start opening up to her fully. Amazingly enough, it feels pretty good, knowing that there is a person you can open up to, who will accept you for what you are and won't expect any miracles on your part. We have grown a lot closer since that time, since I realized that the one thing that made Yuy and Maxwell so perfect for each other was that they didn't hesitate to bare their weaknesses. Surprisingly, that works, I noticed. They don't expect miracles from each other, so they don't miss them.

They just live (or at least Maxwell does, hauling Yuy behind him).

***The End***

So, how did it go?